Pregame notes: Ozzie Guillén Day

There will be time to ruminate on the legacy of the only White Sox manager to win a World Series title, or heck, multiple division titles, in our lifetimes. Before then: roster moves!

• Optioned to Triple-A: Noah Schultz, David Sandlin
• Called up from Triple-A: Hagen Smith, Tanner McDougal
• Designated for Assignment to clear a 40-man spot for Smith: Wikelman González
• Replacing Schultz in the rotation: Unclear! Maybe Erick Fedde

Will Venable referred to these as "moves we anticipated" during his pregame session. While Sandlin was seemingly called up for a one-time bulk inning appearance, Schultz is getting a performance-base demotion from the rotation for a 7.77 EA over his last 11 appearances.

"He's going to have limited innings here down the stretch and we want to make the most of those," Venable said. "We've got to get him into a better spot. We've got to work on the stuff. There's some mechanical stuff, some things that we just have to do to get him at his best, and we'll give him an opportunity to do that at Triple-A and then look forward to calling him up at some point."

If the White Sox were so locked into the fact that Schultz was struggling and nearing his career-high in innings, and nearing a demotion, why was Fedde demoted from the rotation when Luis Casitllo was acquired--and then used in three of the last four games?

Venable said they liked the matchup of Schultz versus the lefty-heavy Guardians lineup, even though they were a batter or two of yanking him intentionally in the first inning, right when they wound up yanking him unintentionally. Moreover, Venable stipulated that, assuming they get through the weekend without needing Fedde out of the pen again, the veteran right-hander is a candidate to fill the open rotation spot against the Reds.

González looked great out of the Triple-A bullpen early in the season before a lat strain knocked him out for over two months. DFA'ing him really puts a crimp in any plans for having all four members of the Garrett Crochet trade return on the active roster at once, but González has allowed nine earned runs in his last four games, which were all single-inning appearances. So this is probably as good of a time as ever to sneak him through waivers.

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Not to make assumptions, but adding Smith and McDougal to the bullpen should seemingly give the Sox some coverage against having to use Fedde in relief, as both arrive in Chicago on the back of some pretty encouraging heaters in the Triple-A bullpen.

"I think I have a better plan than I did obviously, when I first started doing it," McDougal said. "When you go from pitching once a week, and then you don't pitch for two months, then all of a sudden it's like you're gonna pitch three times a week, it's a little different. But I think my arm and my body and everything's caught up."

"It’s been good," Smith said of his recent outings. "Working in the cutter a little more. Been throwing that more, just in general, just to try to get the usage up on it. It’s kind of a newer pitch, still."

Smith and McDougal both were informed of the news of their callup after they had gone home for the night after Triple-A Charlotte's game on Friday night. Smith was on a FaceTime with his fiancee Katherine when he got a text to return to the ballpark. McDougal was told that there was an issue with his drug test that required him to return to the park. But both of them getting called into Knights manager's Chad Pinder's office at the same time was a pretty significant clue.

"I walked in and looked for a camera, but I don't think there was one," McDougal said. "Whenever you get called in the manager's office, I think it's always a little nerve-wracking, so that one was by far the least stressful one I've ever had."

"Tried to go to sleep last night, obviously a little hard," said Smith.

McDougal is the son of former minor league reliever Mike McDougal, who made it up to Triple-A, but never quite cracked the majors. Because of that, Tanner donning a big league jersey is triggering an understandable wave of emotions.

"My dad doesn't stop crying, which is not normal for him," McDougal said. "It's something you set out to when you're a really small boy, and obviously getting up here and doing this is a dream come true, not only for me but for my family, for my dad. He set out for the same dream. Obviously, wasn't able to accomplish it, but now he gets to live it through me. We talked about that last night. This is obviously one of the coolest things I've ever done in my entire life. It's going to be the coolest thing I've ever done in my entire life."

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Venable was asked if it was easy to shake off his mistake from Friday night.

"Not easy to shake off at all. Still working on that."

Was he able to sleep OK?

"No! I did not sleep OK."

But he's more or less over it by now, right?

"No! But that's OK. We've got a game to play and that's the thing I appreciate about our group is I'm not perfect, the players aren't perfect, we're all going to make mistakes. That was an awful mistake yesterday and one that I'll own and probably lose sleep over for a couple more nights, but we've got a game to play and we're excited about that. That's what this league is about."

First pitch: White Sox vs. Guardians

TV: FOX

Radio: ESPN 1000 AM, 107.9 FM La Ley (Spanish)

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